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04 Jun 2010 14:19

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World: Did the World Health Organization overhype swine flu?

  • Two new reports suggest they did. Last year, swine flu, or H1N1, was treated as the second coming of the black plague. A couple of new reports suggest the people making the recommendations to WHO had ties to the drug industry, and those recommendations led to governments wasting millions of dollars on H1N1 vaccines that would never actually get used. “We are left wondering whether major public health organizations are able to effectively manage the conflicts of interest that are inherent in medical science,” one report says. So, who’s the swine now? source

13 Feb 2010 18:26

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U.S.: H1N1 has affected many Americans, but has killed relatively few

  • 57M number of people that got swine flu in the U.S. since the outbreak began last April
  • 257k number of people that had to be hospitalized as a result of a strong swine flu case
  • 12k number of people that died as a result of getting swine flu, which isn’t really that bad

A little perspective on H1N1:

  • 35,000 people usually die from the flu yearly
  • » Demographic changes: H1N1 is an odd outbreak, because while it has killed far fewer people than a traditional outbreak, many of those people are younger than 65, a change from traditional influenza, which is often deadlier for the elderly.
  • » Did swine flu replace the normal flu? One of the things that researchers found was that most people who they tested with flu symptoms had swine flu, not a normal strain. Which suggests that the swine flu outbreak may have neutered a normal flu season.
  • » More’s still on the way: We’re still not out of the woods yet. Flu activity, whether H1N1 or traditional, is still expected for several more months. As long as we don’t have to pull Dustin Hoffman to save the day again. source

04 Jan 2010 20:14

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World: France retreats from a hell of a lot of swine flu vaccine

  • 50 million piggies went back to the manufacturer source

15 Dec 2009 21:09

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U.S.: Let’s recall a bunch of swine flu vaccines and see if people PANIC!

  • 800,000 piggies got recalled source

03 Nov 2009 19:56

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Culture: News flash: One-third of Boyz II Men having swine flu isn’t news

Millions of people have had swine flu so far, and while it’s rough for Shawn Stockman, left, it’s not newsworthy. Get better, though, Shawn. source

29 Oct 2009 20:48

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U.S.: The U.S. was infected with swine flu on a wide scale this summer

  • 5.7 million likely H1N1 sufferers between May and July source

27 Oct 2009 20:19

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U.S.: Sasha and Malia are H1N1-vaccinated. Barack and Michelle will wait.

  • did The First Daughters got the vaccine last week, when it first became available in D.C. It’s a hard vaccine to get in these parts, by the way. The whole First Family got flu shots, BTW.
  • didn’t Obama and the First Lady are waiting based on the order of priority – they’re after the “young people under the age of 24, pregnant women, and people with underlying conditions.” source
 

25 Oct 2009 10:00

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U.S.: A couple numbers to note about swine flu’s emergency state

  • 46
    states
    currently have widespread levels of swine flu running through their populations; 1,000 people have died so far
  • 16 million doses of swine flu vaccine have made their way to the states; they expected ten times this amount by now source

20 Oct 2009 09:53

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Politics: Louis Farrakhan is a big stupid fearmongering idiot

  • The Earth can’t take 6.5 billion people. We just can’t feed that many. So what are you going to do? Kill as many as you can. We have to develop a science that kills them and makes it look as though they died from some disease.
  • Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan • Discussing how the swine flu vaccine is dangerous and you shouldn’t take it because it might kill you. Shut up, you fearmongering jerk. Just. Shut. Up. • source

20 Sep 2009 02:55

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Offbeat, World: Told ya: Egypt’s regretting killing its pigs in a swine flu scare

We told you not to do it. Now you have a major trash problem that goats can’t solve. If you think the trash is bad, wait for the locusts, guys. source